Help a Disney researcher find information?

[WhitneyMB]

Hi. I’m checking to see if one of the many Disney experts on here might be able to help me out. I’m trying to locate demographic statistics describing who visits Disney theme parks (gender, age, etc.). Has anyone ever seen this information? I’m sure that Disney collects this data and much more, but probably doesn’t publicize it. In addition to being a Disney fan and longtime DisBoard member, I’m also a professor and researcher working on a project about Disney fandom.

I’m trying to locate the information on park demographics to help contextualize the survey information that I’m analyzing. Any leads would be appreciated!

By the way, if you're interested in participating in the confidential survey, our data collection is running until the end of the week: https://johncarroll.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_29OTUKxAsG9fAZU

 

[LuvOrlando]

I imagine this is a very complicated question with a different answer for each resort level and ticket option.

Also imagine how WDW targets it's audience is a very closely guarded set of secrets. It probably costs a great deal to accumulate this info and the last thing they would want is for Universal or Sea World to get their hands on it.

 

[BrianL]

I don't know where you can find that information, but I did complete the survey.

 

[wabbott]

https://www.streetlightdata.com/measuring-travel-behavior-by-demographics-disney-world/

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/guess-many-parents-debt-disney-154513227.html

 

[wabbott]

This site has a bunch of citations that might be helpful.

https://www.linearity.io/blog/disney-statistics/

 

[Dan Murphy]

I don't know where you can find that information, but I did complete the survey.

likewise

 

[WhitneyMB]

https://www.streetlightdata.com/measuring-travel-behavior-by-demographics-disney-world/

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/guess-many-parents-debt-disney-154513227.html

This site has a bunch of citations that might be helpful.

https://www.linearity.io/blog/disney-statistics/

Thank you @wabbott!! This is exactly what I was digging for and I just knew that someone here would be able to help! I have a student research assistant on the hunt for this data now, but I figured the experts here would be two steps ahead :-D

 

[WhitneyMB]

@BrianL @Dan Murphy

Thank you for completing the survey! That definitely helps too!

 

[hhisc16]

survey complete

 

[NotUrsula]

Have you spoken to your Library staff about this question? It's fairly likely that they will be able to find solid data for you in paywalled hospitality and tourism industry databases. (If your university does not subscribe to them, librarians are usually in the best position to order trials that will allow them to search on your behalf. Or, other universities also sometimes have walk-in exceptions in their library licenses which allow in-person campus visitors access to paid resources if library-owned computers are used to retrieve them, so a research visit elsewhere can pay off.)

I do happen to know that AZA (the Association of Zoos and Aquariums) has a fair amount of data on Animal Kingdom visitors; Disney has to file it as part of their membership agreement. There should also be quite a lot of data available via government sources, such as VisitFlorida and the local tourism revenue agencies, from visitor survey and hotel registration data. (Hotels record your ID, so they know where your domicile is, and they run demographic reports on it. I think you can safely theorize that guests in hotels that are marketed specifically as adjacent to Disney properties are probably also Disney Parks visitors; at those farther afield, not so much.) Right now there is probably a fair amount of good data swirling around in Florida court records because of the recent lawsuits by the Governor against the conpany.

The trickiest travel and tourism info to get is always data on visitation by local community members, because they don't spend money elsewhere in the tourism industry to facilitate their visits. Sometimes public school systems have it because they ask students about places they go locally.

 

[Micca]

Interesting survey, I'd appreciate a few broadstrokes about the results when you've had time to compile.

 

[WhitneyMB]

Have you spoken to your Library staff about this question? It's fairly likely that they will be able to find solid data for you in paywalled hospitality and tourism industry databases. (If your university does not subscribe to them, librarians are usually in the best position to order trials that will allow them to search on your behalf. Or, other universities also sometimes have walk-in exceptions in their library licenses which allow in-person campus visitors access to paid resources if library-owned computers are used to retrieve them, so a research visit elsewhere can pay off.)

I do happen to know that AZA (the Association of Zoos and Aquariums) has a fair amount of data on Animal Kingdom visitors; Disney has to file it as part of their membership agreement. There should also be quite a lot of data available via government sources, such as VisitFlorida and the local tourism revenue agencies, from visitor survey and hotel registration data. (Hotels record your ID, so they know where your domicile is, and they run demographic reports on it. I think you can safely theorize that guests in hotels that are marketed specifically as adjacent to Disney properties are probably also Disney Parks visitors; at those farther afield, not so much.) Right now there is probably a fair amount of good data swirling around in Florida court records because of the recent lawsuits by the Governor against the conpany.

The trickiest travel and tourism info to get is always data on visitation by local community members, because they don't spend money elsewhere in the tourism industry to facilitate their visits. Sometimes public school systems have it because they ask students about places they go locally.

Thanks! Through my university, I have access to many paywalled databases, but as it's summer not as many people hours are available. I appreciate the heads up about the Disney being required to file data with the AZA. The data I'm looking for just has to be broad strokes to provide context for the primary data that we're collected and analyzing.

 

[WhitneyMB]

Interesting survey, I'd appreciate a few broadstrokes about the results when you've had time to compile.

I absolutely will share the results here! The data is being written up into multiple scholarly articles, so it will take a while to go through the peer review process. I appreciate your interest, and definitely everyone who is contributing by participating.